Can someone talk me through a taobao order? (question about shipping!)

[Dragonflitter]

I am really really hesitant about this... but there's an item on taobao up for sale and it's an exclusive toy that is going to be randomly distributed to stores here in North America, meaning there is no guarantee it's going to show up anywhere near me. So I am thinking I might take the chance and place my first taobao order.

But I don't know the first thing about ordering from them. I know you have to talk through a third party who orders it, so you have to pay shipping to the third party, then shipping to the states. But I don't know how to go about ordering.

Is there anyone who is doing a taobao order soon and wouldn't mind if I added some to the list? Or failing that, could someone please help me step by step placing my first order? Please make your steps simple because I'm dense.

Thank you all for the help!

[thekozmicpig]

One of the peeps on the MLP LJ comm made a instructions guide that's really solid for first timers: http://boomdiada.livejournal.com/84858.html

I'd also point out that Yoybuy is helpful for browsing since their site does a auto-translate, but I'd still order from TaobaoNow as I've had nothing but good experiences with them.

[Dragonflitter]

Thank you very much! It is a lot to take in, but I will read through it carefully and maybe work up the nerve to place an order!

[Galactica]

I like Taobaonow too, they seem very nice, honest and have been getting faster lately.  I've never had a real problem with them.  I used Mytaobao before too and they were also honest, but I had a little more difficulty with communication.  May have been just because they were my first agent and I didn't really "get" the process yet.

Just keep in mind a few things true for all agents:

1. be very polite- very detailed with your orders.  Our cultures and languages are very different and misunderstandings are easy

2.  keep in mind that the agent is placing the order for you, paying with money that you send them.  If the item has quality problems or isn't really what you wanted, consider that a risk of using an agent. 

3.  Ask questions FIRST.   Buying something on Taobao is so tricky because translating doesn't always make much if any sense.   However, the agent can clarify stuff for you-  ie-  you might think you are getting say 12 ponies when in fact, the listing is only for ONE.  If it is not absolutely clear to you, check with the agent.

3.  I would personally recommend ALWAYS using EMS for shipping.  Other methods can take unpredictable amounts of time, or get lost.   EMS comes with tracking, and indemnity.

4.  If your package is taking overly long and you get impatient and open a paypal dispute, most agent will blackball you from using their service.

[Dewprincess]

Galactica has great advice   I just placed my first order from Taobaonow recently and was very happy with it!  They have a video tutorial to help walk you through the process!

[Dragonflitter]

Thank you guys for your help! I worked up the nerve and tried a taobao order, and so far it is going smoothly. *crosses fingers*

I ordered two items from two different sellers. One item was no longer available, but the other was, so at least I am getting half of what I attempted! The items are now being shipped to the agent, so I just have to wait for them to get there, pay the shipping, and then wait for it to arrive.

Only one thing marred my experience so far, so I wanted to write about it.

WARNING TO TAOBAO BUYERS

This might be have been a one-time thing, but I want to write this warning nonetheless. While I was in the middle of ordering from taobao, a virus was downloaded onto my computer. :\ It was a spam advertising program called SurfBetter. It caused pop-ups and banner ads to appear in my Firefox window as I was browsing the web.

I know it had to have come from either taobao.com, or TaoBao Now, or YoyBuy, because those were the three pages I had open when I suddenly started getting banner ads on all my Firefox pages as well as pop-up ads. (There were even banner ads here on the Arena when I went after I was done placing my taobao order!)

Thankfully I ran my virus protection program and it found the SurfBetter program and deleted it from my computer. But I wanted to warn you guys that one of those three sites could be dangerous to go on. Just FYI.

[Galactica]

Wow that is very weird-  luckily I have never had such a problem.

[Dragonflitter]

It only happened once and I've been on taobao.com and TaobaoNow three times now, talking with the agent, so it could have been just a one-time thing that was removed. Just wanted to warn people just in case.

[Dragonflitter]

Okay, I am stumped. I ordered my items and the Taobaonow agent has them and is ready to ship them to me, so they send a shipping invoice just like the one shown in boomdiada's Guide to Taobao. But... the shipping invoice is asking me to pay with either Western Union or Direct TT. There's no option to pay with Paypal? Paypal is how I paid for the items originally, so why can't I use Paypal to pay for the shipping now? @_@

[Galactica]

Send them a message through the system asking them to send you a paypal invoice for EMS shipping.  That's what I always do even though it is not set out as an option.

In fact, to expedite things, I often ask them before the items even come in- to send me a paypal invoice for EMS shipping once the package is ready to go. 

Oh- and ALWAYS do EMS shipping.  The agents get a serious discount to use EMS, so it is usually just a dollar or two more than one of the other options, it is WAAAAAY faster, way safer, and if the package does somehow get lost or stolen, it comes with indemnity so the agent can get you a refund if something should go wrong.

[Dragonflitter]

Thank you, that makes sense! You are a doll, you've helped me so much with this order.

Unfortunately the shipping for EMS is $20 for the two small toys I ordered, and the other shipping methods are $10 and under. But sounds like the extra $10 is worth it to make sure my package gets here.

[Galactica]

Hmm yeah that is a harder call,  it's still safer with EMS but when you order stuff from a Chinese seller on ebay, they always send by air mail and USUALLY it gets there- so as long as you won't be crushed if it gets lost, air mail would be okay for a couple of small things.

I try only to order from Taobao when I'm getting a large lot- because otherwise the agent fee and shipping make the items a bit too expensive to be worth it.  Pay attention to their yen to dollar rate too-  they do not use a market rate-  so if the market is trading at say $1/8 yen, then most agents trade at 1/5 -  that was something I didn't notice at first...